The Prince and The Cat
by Midnight E Siren
Summary: Atemu is nearly assassinated in the dead of night, out of it he meets a young man that turns his view of the world on it's ear.  Yuugi is an anomaly that Atemu just can't figure out, maybe he'll find that he doesn't really  i\ want i\  to know everything.


Part One

"Prince Atemu, your father the Pharaoh wishes for you to speak with him." the servant quickly shuffled out of the young prince's room and the teen inside huffed.

Why must his father always drag him out of his room at the most annoying times? First it was the nobles, then the horse keepers, and then Seth had decided to take him on a stroll through the city. Hoping he wouldn't have to strangle his own father he strode through the twisting hallways nodding to the servants that bowed their head for him. He smiled at Mahad and Mana as he walked by both looking a bit worried, and it set Atemu on edge. When he entered the throne room it was almost empty which surprised him, there was usually a decent group of nobles' servants in there complaining. He ran a hand through his tri-colored hair, first starting out black until it spiked up into crimson tips bolts of blond shooting through the black and blond bangs framing his face.

His crimson eyes turned to look at his father who gestured to the throne beside himself, Atemu's own, and he quickly settled himself into it. Atemu's father, Aknamkanon, turned and stared at his son almost as if worried for him and it made the prince want to go back to his room and hide. Aknamkanon was a strong, but aging man with a sharp angular face and a greying beard and mustache, his eyes were sharp as any blade. The prince had inherited many traits from his father, but looked more like his mother. Tanned skin hid lean muscles and his eyes shone a bright crimson, he had the angular face of his father along with his sharp eyes.

"My son, you may not be aware of this." his father's sharp eyes were focused steadily on his son, almost frightened. "An attempt on your life was made the other night, by an assassin."

Atemu felt his eyes widen in shock, he hadn't heard anything about that not even the sounds of a struggle or any kind of fight. "Why wasn't I told?" he growled, standing and glaring at his father. "If there is an attempt on my life I would wish to know about it."

"I did not tell you because this is exactly how I knew you would react." Aknamkanon replied, glaring his son back into his throne. "He was stopped before he could reach your room in the dead of night, Mana stopped him with her magic."

He remembered Mana's and Mahad's worried expressions and realized why, if Mana hadn't been there at the right time he would most likely be dead. "Who was this assassin?"

"He was captured and sent to the dungeons, but I knew you would want to see him yourself. Guards!" the throne room doors opened and a group of five guards entered, and a chained form in the center of them. "This is the assassin that made an attempt on your life."

The guards seemed excessive to Atemu, they had a small boy between them of pale skin and wild hair. It was much like his own except he was missing the extra bolts of gold shooting through the black in his hair. It started black and then shot up in spikes that ended in blood red along with bright blonde bangs, and one lock that hung in his eyes. Their captive's eyes made Atemu flinch, they were a deep plum and looked murderous, like he would do anything to get away from the guards and attack them. The assassin was just a boy, probably no older than fifteen, dressed in nothing but a tunic and a gold band on his right forearm.

Aknamkanon called for the guards to bring the boy forward until they stood in the center of the room and chained the boy to the floor. "Has the boy been through questioning?" Atemu inquired watching as the boy staring at him unblinkingly.

"He would say nothing my King." one guard replied, Atemu kept his eyes trained on the captive watching as the boy looked away and stared down at his chains. "He didn't even scream."

Atemu suddenly noticed that the guards were all keeping a good distance from the boy, well out of the reach of his chains and it bothered him. "Are you afraid of this boy?" he asked.

"This assassin has already killed five men in the dungeons alone my son, they strayed too close and he's nearly escaped twice. We found four guards the night he tried to kill you." Atemu's head spun so fast he felt a bone pop, a single boy could do that much damage?

"What are you going to do to him?" Atemu asked his shock still visible on his face.

"Either somehow convince him to tell us who he is and why is was sent here, or simply put him to death." his father replied glancing to see his son deep in thought. "Did you have a different idea my son?"

"What if we convinced him to teach our guards his abilities? As you said he is very adept at fighting and he could be a valuable asset to our guard." Atemu's crimson eyes were focused on the pale boy, whose own violet eyes glared back.

"He is too dangerous Atemu." Aknamkanon shook his head sternly. "There is no way that I am going to release this boy in the palace halls to come and go as he pleases."

Atemu sighed and was about to begin arguing again when a shout caught his attention, a guard was laying motionless on the ground. Another plunged a spear at him as the boy twisted chains around the shaft and pulled it from his grasp, breaking the chains that held his feet. His father called for Mahad as the other three fell by the boy's hand, Atemu's protector quickly rushed inside his apprentice at his heel. The boy turned for a moment to look at Mahad before rushing the twin thrones and a sword in hand from one of the guards. A quick spell from Mahad sent the assassin sprawling, but apparently he had a trick of his own.

The boy threw out his right arm and sent the two magic wielders flying backward into the doors, he turned back to the thrones eyes hard. Atemu stood and drew a sword from behind his chair standing to glare down at the boy, Aknamkanon tried to stop his son, but was promptly ignored. Their swords clashed and the boy rolled away out of reach causing Atemu to become suspicious, the boy rushed forward and feinted. A well timed parry from the assassin had the prince scrambling for his sword, and Aknamkanon was afraid for his only son. His legs scrambled to reach his blade and when his hand closed around the handle Atemu swung the blade around and struck the boy's leg.

Blood gushed from the wound Atemu had made in the assassin's thigh causing the smaller to limp out of range, the prince stared at the wounded captive. He glared and favored his left side heavily, blood was flowing heavily out of the gash until the smaller swayed, his face paling. For a moment the assassin lost his balance and Atemu thought he had won, but the boy lunged forward one last time and aimed for the prince's heart. Atemu had had enough of the fighting, he ducked sideways and smacked the handle of his sword into the back of the boy's head. The assassin collapsed into Atemu's lap unmoving and bleeding heavily and Atemu finally got a good look at the gold band on the boy's arm. Guards rushed in to remove the pale boy, fully intent on killing him before Atemu shouted for them to stop.

"Atemu he tried to kill you!" Aknamkanon shouted dismissing his son in favor of ordering the guards to let the boy bleed to death.

"He didn't try to kill me! He's being controlled! Look at the band on his arm, it has an obedience spell engraved into it! Ask Mahad if you must, but he is not responsible." he replied fiercely, Atemu and his father locked eyes for a moment before the Pharaoh called for the magician and his apprentice. "Well?"

After a few moments Mahad nodded. "The boy _is_ wearing a band with an obedience spell on it, whoever sent him here went against the boy's will." Mahad smoothed away the boy's bangs carefully before he called for a guard to gather Isis.

When the dark haired woman appeared she quickly went to work on wrapping the boy's leg so the bleeding would stop. Finished with the initial danger she had a pair of guards take the boy to her healing chambers where he could rest, and finally the father and son could speak. Aknamkanon turned to his son and glared him down until Atemu looked away in shame, he had openly defied his father when he engaged the boy.

"When I say not to do something it does not mean that you should throw yourself into such danger! What would I have done if he had killed you?" he father roared. "What would this land have done? Not only would you be dead, but we would not have known that that boy was not in his mind to kill you or myself. He would have been tortured and killed!"

Atemu stood and waited for his father to fall silent and had to wait a long while as his father continued to rant at him. He knew he deserved it, but he wanted to hurry and see how the boy was doing, and was hoping that he wouldn't die from the wound. The prince stood there for over an hour listening to his father yell at him before he was released to see the boy. When he got to the healing chambers Isis was working on the boy's leg, Atemu had put the blade in deep when he'd swung blindly. Isis told him that it was bad, but not deep enough to kill him, what was really dangerous was the blood the boy was losing.

The boy was laying on one of the cots looking white as a ghost as Isis worked to stitch him back together. Mana was beside her supplying a stream of healing magic as Isis worked on the physical part. It seemed like hours before Isis announced the boy stable, and he slept heavily for the next day as his body began to heal. Only after three days with Isis was the prince allowed to see the boy, he hadn't been completely conscious the day before so Isis had kept him away. When Atemu returned the day after he was able to talk to him.

"Isis?" Atemu called as he slipped into the chambers, a bit of whispering was silenced when he called out.

"Come in my prince, he is awake and healthy." Isis called as Atemu strode into the room, the boy was sitting up in his cot staring in amazement when Atemu entered.

"Hello there." he smiled at the injured boy who smiled back meekly and nodded. "Would it be rude of me to ask your name?"

"Only if you do not tell me yours first." the boy replied, his meek smile turning wry as he watched the prince.

"Prince Atemu of Egypt." he grinned, but it faltered when the boy's smile widened.

"Yuugi." the simple statement made Atemu curious. "There's not much to say about myself, my mother was a brothel woman and my father a noble bored of his wife."

Atemu almost flinched at the carelessness in the boy's tone, not everyone could easily say that their mother was a whore and their father an adulterer. "You say it so carelessly, and ignore my title. Something tells me you're hiding something." Atemu smirked, but Yuugi never flinched.

"Being born in a brothel you're expected to work there as well, my mother was killed by an overzealous customer and she left her debt on my head. Titles mean nothing to me." that sent Atemu for a loop, he hadn't been expecting his assassin to actually be a brothel boy.

"Why were you wearing that band?" only then did the boy flinch.

He was quiet for a while, his hand tracing the red skin of his forearm where the band had rested. "A man came to the brothel and asked for me, I thought he was just another customer, but it turned out he was some kind of sorcerer. He put the band on my arm and then everything went black." Yuugi's eyes were trained on his hands which were clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. "While I was out... what did I do?"

Yuugi looked up at Atemu, begged him with his bright amethyst eyes and the prince couldn't refuse. "You tried to kill me in my sleep, but was stopped by our magician's apprentice." Atemu bent his head to Yuugi then. "Then when they brought you before my father and I, you knocked out five guards and tried to kill me again. Your leg wound is my fault and I am deeply sorry."

Much to Isis's dismay Atemu dropped to one knee and bowed to Yuugi. "A prince shouldn't bow to any other, but his father Atemu! Please rise!" Isis exclaimed before Yuugi waved a hand for her to be quiet.

"She's right Prince, it's best you listen to her. There was no personal maliciousness in your attack so I have no reason to need an apology." Yuugi smiled apologetically. "If anything I should be thanking you, for releasing me from that band. It was frightening to be so out of control of my own body."

Yami raised his head with a miffed expression on his face. "I grew up and work in a brothel, where titles mean nothing and only the whores have control. Usually I'd be the one manipulating instead of being manipulated. People seem to forget that they lose complete control the moment they enter a whore house." Yuugi gave a little chuckle at Atemu and Isis's shocked looks, it wasn't anything new to him.

"When did you start working there Yuugi?" Isis asked gently her eyes soft and motherly as Yuugi put a finger to his chin.

"I don't know... when I was about ten? That's when my mom died." Atemu's face went from shocked, to disgusted, to angry in the span of two seconds. "What? It's not like it's a big deal. There were kids younger than me there."

"Where is this brothel so I can stop these people." Atemu stared at Yuugi for a long while as the smaller boy stared back searching the Prince's eyes. "Yuugi."

"No." Yuugi's face fell, his expression a silent mask of extreme frustration.

"Yuugi, we need to stop them from using other children. You could help us do that." Atemu tried to get Yuugi to look at him, but the pale teen continued to dodge his gaze. "Is there someone you're trying to protect?"


End file.
